Chapter 34: Chapter 33:1 Choose to Be Happy 1


    Trantor: 549690339


    “Here are the lyrics and sheet music for ‘A Dull Life.¹ Get familiar with them, but don’t rush to finish the recording, and especially don’t rush to release it. Wait until ‘Boring’ has been officially released for a month, or actually, two weeks.”


    Harrison rk instructed.


    Carrie Thomas nodded, “Alright.”


    She didn’t dare to ask why.


    She didn’t need to ask; she knew what Harrison rk’s answer would be.


    It was definitely that after the official release of ‘Boring,’ it would be popr, her value would rise, and others would activelye to contact her and so on.


    “By the way, if conditions permit, find a reliable local studio in Oxfordshire for long-term cooperation. Otherwise, it would be too time-consuming to travel to Beiduo for every recording session,” Harrison rk continued to instruct.


    Carrie Thomas had no objections, “Yes, in fact, practicing singing usually needs more than just my voice. Putting on good monitoring headphones and listening to the reverb in the recording studio is very helpful for me. But…”


    “But what?”


    “But I’ve actually inquired, and the best recording studio in Oxfordshire seems to have some connections with that rich second generation, Eric Mitchell.”


    Harrison rk raised his eyebrows, “Forget it then, just go to Beiduo for now. But how much would it cost to set up a studio like this by myself?”


    “A low-quality one wouldn’t help much, but if you want good equipment, it would cost at least five million to start.”


    Harrison rk turned to look out the window, “Tonight’s moon is big and round indeed.”


    And so, the matter was settled for the time being.


    Starting from the second day, Harrison rk resumed his old working habits.


    However, as the saying goes, the tree wants to be still but the wind keeps blowing.


    This was the situation Harrison rk was facing now.


    He had everything ready; he just needed the fair wind of ‘Boring’ to be released on No. 1 Fly.


    Without any unexpected setbacks, when the money started pouring in, he would have short-term financial freedom as long as he didn’t buy a house.


    He wouldn’t have to be meek in thepany or struggle for petty profits with intrigue and deceit.


    He could live a more rxed life.


    But for now, before the eastern wind rises, mischievous winds have been blowing around him.


    In the afternoon, in thepany’s meeting room, a monthly Chesterton Apartment High-Branch regional summary meeting was being held.


    Usually, during these meetings, Linden Brown would give a speech, take everyone through a look at the future, and convey thepany’s headquarters’ spirit.


    But this time, the atmosphere didn’t seem quite right, starting from when Harrison rk had identally be absent-minded earlier.


    “Harrison rk. Harrison rk? Harrison rk!”


    Lost in thought, he was suddenly poked in the thigh by a colleague next to him and vaguely heard the call that seemed toe from the distant horizon.


    It seemed to be Linden Brown, the chairman of the meeting, calling him.


    Harrison rk raised his hand and replied, “Here.”


    Up on stage, Linden Brown’s face looked displeased, apparently not satisfied with Harrison rk bing absent-minded during the meeting.


    “What do you mean, ‘here’? Get up and give an exnation. Why did the upancy rate of Weston Community, which you are in charge of, rank bottom in the High-tech Zone for two consecutive months? Give me an exnation.” Harrison rk was stunned.


    Why did they change their approach this time?


    This couldn’t be med on him.


    Weston Community was positioned as a mid-to-high-end property with higher rents and low upancy due to the surrounding office buildings’ck of development.


    When he took it over, the upancy rate was just 80%. After working on it for half a year, and counting Carrie Thomas’ recent move-in, the rate reached 91.25% with only seven suites remaining vacant.


    Although it was still the lowest in the High-tech Zone, he had not only avoided making mistakes, but he had also made contributions, and Linden Brown had never argued about this matter before.


    Harrison rk felt displeased and shrugged, “Mr. Brown, you know how things are in the Weston Community. What kind of exnation could I give? Besides, our upancy rate exceeded 90%, which meets thepany’s assessment criterion.”


    Already eager to find fault, Linden Brown didn’t expect Harrison rk to speak sarcastically, implying that he wasn’t even aware of the situation in the District’smunities and holding a stiff attitude.


    Feeling his face pped, Linden Brown was immediately furious, “Bullshit! That’s only because you live in one of the units! Without that, it wouldn’t reach 90%! And take a look at this chart! Look at the number next to your name!”


    The number Linden Brown pointed to was the number of newly-developed housing units managed by each housekeeper in the District this month.


    Some had seven or eight units, some had one or two, but the only Harrison rk had zero next to his name.


    Harrison rk had an exnation.


    “When you asked me to go to Weston, you arranged for me to focus on digesting the existing housing stock. In the past six months, I’ve increased the upancy rate from eighty to around ny while maintaining the existing customers. So unless it’s a really cost-effective unit, I haven’t wasted my energy on it.”


    Linden Brown was publicly rebutted and couldn’t put on airs.


    “You…”


    Seeing a good summary meeting suddenly stall, other employees started to speak up, trying to smooth things over.


    But while they were all persuading, some people were still secretly fanning the mes.


    “Harrison rk’s apartment has failed to reach 90% for six consecutive months, below the assessment standard. Starting from this month, 20% of your monthly bonus will be deducted. When it exceeds 90%, you’ll start receiving it again! Dismissed!”


    With those words, Linden Brown turned and left.


    He no longer mentioned Harrison rk’s leaves and absences during work, focusing on his performance as a reason, which was solid enough and well within his power, making him the final say.


    Harrison rk was left stunned.


    With Linden Brown’s cut, he would be getting around 500 less each month.


    Although not much, who could bear having their ie shed for no reason?


    Of course not!


    As Linden Brown left first, the crowd in the meeting room dispersed quickly.


    Many people nced at Harrison rk, who was still sitting there, as they left. They wondered what was running through their minds.


    Some felt sympathy, some enjoyed his misfortune, while others considered it none of their business.


    Mr. Brown’s anger today seemed somewhat unfounded, but who could me Harrison rk for giving him a handle on the situation?”Harrison, I think Mr. Brown went a bit too far today.”


    About a minute or twoter, a voice suddenly sounded beside Harrison rk.


    Harrison turned his head, it was David Mitchell.


    They gave each other a sarcastic smile.


    Harrison smirked, “You’re still here? You think so too?”


    David nodded, “But,panies naturally have their own rules and regtions, and there’s nothing we can do about it. You just have to try harder next month.” “Do you think I should just ept it?” Harrison asked.


    David counteracted, “If not, what else? Of course, If it were me, I definitely wouldn’t be able to ept it, and it would be hard to breathe.”


    “So, if it were you, what would you do?”


    “If there’s no ce for me here, there’ll be another ce for me. Cough, cough… I don’t mean that exactly, you should consider it yourself. I’m leaving now.”


    Watching him leave the conference room, the smile on Harrison’s face gradually dissipated.


    David Mitchell was quite interesting.


    When Harrison first started working here, he was assigned to a maturemunity with more than 60 properties, slightly inferior to Weston Community but with a 100% upancy rate.


    Later, somehow, it was changed to Weston Community with only a 70% upancy rate at the time. The previous maturemunity was assigned to David’s jurisdiction.


    Compared to other property managers, David was responsible for threemunities, with nearly 200 apartments in total.


    Interestingly, all of David’smunities were close to Weston Community.


    Clearly, Linden Brown and David Mitchell thought the fruits were ripe and ready to be picked.


    However, do they think I’m that easy to bully?


    Instead of going to Linden Brown’s office, after leaving the conference room, David went to a corner, took out his phone, and sent a WeChat message to Linden Brown.


    “Boss, I just had a chat with him, and he seemed very unconvinced. I don’t think he can hold on for long.”


    Linden Brown quickly replied, “Well, I’ll add some more fuel to the fire in a couple of days, and he’ll be ready to roll on his own.”


    “Thanks, Boss.”


    “What are you thanking me for? Thepany needs to consolidate resources. It makes sense that an experienced employee should be in charge of a mid-to-high-endmunity like Weston. If it weren’t for Harrison living in one of the units, I would have simply taken it away.”


    “Yes!”


    In the corner, David’s face showed satisfaction.


    Initially, when they wanted to assign Weston Community to him, he was unwilling because it would lower his performance. So, he threw it to Harrison.


    Now that Weston Community has reached the standard, David obviously wanted to reap the fruits of victory without doing much work, and his performance bonus could be more than two thousand every month.


    However, they must pay attention to their influence within thepany. After all, it was Harrison who slowly raised the upancy rate of Weston Community. Directly taking it away would discourage other property managers. If they pressured him to quit, it would make more sense.


    Linden Brown had changed his mind about Harrison slightly but held on to it since he ran into him at the Inte cafe. It came just in time to stoke the fire again.


    In the blink of an eye, two more days passed, and Linden Brown and David Mitchell still didn’t see Harrison resign.


    They thought they needed to add more fuel to the fire but just as they were about to, Linden Brown was called upstairs to thepany headquarters.


    The regional director responsible for the entire Oxfordshire market talked earnestly with Linden Brown for almost half an hour, hinting that managing subordinates required a bnce of strictness and leniency.


    For some specialmunities, since they were handed over to their subordinates during the most difficult time, it would be inappropriate to use overly rigid systems to discourage them now that they have obviously seen an improvement.


    Although the words were unclear, Linden Brown understood the meaning.


    Aftering down from upstairs, Linden Brown called Harrison into his office with a solemn face.


    “Did you goin?”


    He asked.


    Harrison shook his head, “This is notining. This is fighting for my own legitimate rights.”


    “Do you know that you’re breaking the rules by doing this?”


    “What rules?”


    “Inner matters should be solved internally. If you poke it up, you’re breaking the rules.”


    Harrison shrugged, “I can’t solve it internally. My immediate superior is trying to screw me over. Who am I supposed to turn to? We’re already in the 21st century. Are you suggesting I should start apany revolution?”


    “Don’t be so harsh with your words. No one’s screwing you over. I’m just holding you to high standards.”


    “Mr. Brown, isn’t that a bit too much? I only make a few thousand a month. You can’t expect me to have the ambition of someone making a million a year, right?”


    Linden Brown suddenly lowered his voice, “I’m saying, isn’t it hard for you to stay here like this?”


    Now he was tantly trying to force Harrison to leave.


    Harrison, without panic, countered by leaning on the table and lowering his voice as well, “You want me to resign? How muchpensation are you prepared to give me?”


    “Impossible! You haven’t even worked here for a full year! You don’t have anypensation.”


    “What about my apartment? Can I still live there?”


    “In your dreams!”


    Harrison asked again, “So, if I resign voluntarily, that means I’m stupid, right?”


    Linden Brown remained silent.


    Harrison drove the point home, “You want to get rid of me? Two conditions. First, let me continue renting my current apartment at the original price for two years. Second,pensate me with three months of sry and bonuses, a total of twenty-five thousand, not a cent less! Otherwise, I’ll stick around, even if I have to be shameless about it.”


    Actually, it wasn’t that important to have more or less money.


    Harrison didn’t care about this job at all.


    But since Linden Brown and David Mitchell had been doing disgusting things all day, if Harrison were to give in easily, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself.


    I’ll stay here just to bother you guys.


    I love the look on your faces when you’re annoyed but can’t do anything about it.


    Making people who dislike you unhappy is the key to living a happy life!


    Harrison chose to be happy..